MONTREAL:Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and Canadian teen sensation Victoria Mboko booked a championship showdown with gritty semifinal wins on Wednesday in the WTA Canadian Open in Montreal.
Japan’s Osaka, chasing her first tour-level title since the 2021 Australian Open, saved a pair of set points in the second-set tiebreak to polish off a 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) victory over Denmark’s Clara Tauson — who was coming off victories over Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek and Australian Open winner Madison Keys.
Mboko saved a match point in a thrilling 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) victory over former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
The 18-year-old wild card fed off the energy of the crowd, crediting ecstatic supporters with carrying her through after a tumble left her with a sore right wrist in the third set of her first tour-level semifinal.
Mboko, who ousted top-seeded French Open champion Coco Gauff in the fourth round, didn’t let it stop her.
After going down an early break in the third set she refused to go quietly, loading up on her forehand and fending off a match point as she broke Rybakina in the 10th game to level the set.
A couple of untimely double faults helped ninth-seeded Rybakina break back for a 6-5 lead, but the ninth seed from Kazakhstan was broken to love in the next game, setting the stage for the tiebreak drama.
“After I had that fall I wasn’t in the greatest spirits, but I’m happy that I kept my composure and I was kind of patient in the right moments,” said Mboko, who won the last three points of a decider she called “stressful.”
“Anything can happen,” an exhausted Mboko beamed as the crowd’s cheers rained down on her.
“Unfortunately I fell, but I had everyone supporting me and pushing me.”
Mboko started the season ranked outside the top 300 but had worked her way up to 85th coming into the week by grinding away in lower-level tournaments.
She is assured of breaking into the top 40 no matter the result against Osaka, a former world number one who has struggled to find consistency since returning from maternity leave in 2024 after more than a year away.
Osaka has looked re-energized this week after a coaching shakeup and rolled through the first set against Tauson.
But Tauson twice regained a break in the second set as she pushed it to the tiebreaker where she had chances to level the match after taking a 6-4 lead.
Unable to convert her set points, the Dane saved one match point to make it 7-7, but Osaka won the next two to seal the victory and reach her first final in a WTA 1000 level event since Miami in 2022.
“Definitely really happy,” said Osaka, who started the week ranked 49th in the world. “(I’m) excited to play my first hard court final back.”
Osaka, whose performance so far this week means she’s assured of rising high enough in the rankings to be seeded at the US Open later this month, was bracing for a tough match against a player who said in a youthful interview that she idolized the Japanese star.
“I watched her play today because they were the match in front of us. I thought it was really impressive how she stayed calm,” said Osaka, adding that Mboko’s rebound from match point down was “really impressive for an 18-year-old.”
Osaka books WTA Montreal title clash with Canadian teen Mboko
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Osaka books WTA Montreal title clash with Canadian teen Mboko
- Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and Canadian teen sensation Victoria Mboko booked a championship showdown with gritty semifinal wins on Wednesday in the WTA Canadian Open in Montreal
Saudi football authorities deny that Saudi national team manager Herve Renard has been sacked
- It comes after Al Riyadh newspaper, citing “special sources,” claims the Saudi Arabian Football Federation was considering replacing him
- @SaudiNews50 posts message on X, citing SAFF, saying the report is false; Al Riyadh later confirms it has received a written denial from the federation
RIYADH: The Saudi Arabian Football Federation moved quickly on Wednesday night to deny rumors that national football team coach Herve Renard was to be fired.
Speculation about the Frenchman’s future in the job earlier began to mount after Al Riyadh newspaper posted a story on social media platform X claiming Renard would be replaced, after Saudi Arabia failed to reach the final of the FIFA Arab Cup.
Citing “special sources,” the Arabic-language newspaper reported that the federation’s board was considering relieving Renard of his duties, and that a search for the 57-year-old’s replacement would start before preparations begin for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The new manager might be someone working in the Saudi Professional League, the newspaper said, and would be an individual whose standards and objectives match the ambitions of football officials and fans in the Kingdom, and are aligned with the reputation and development of Saudi football.
Shortly after the report appeared, the account @SaudiNews50, which has 21.6 million followers on social media platform X, posted a message, citing SAFF, that said: “Reports of Renard’s dismissal from coaching the Saudi national team are false.”
A little less than two hours after its initial report, Al Riyadh published an update confirming that the federation had sent the newspaper a written denial of the claim that Renard’s job was on the line, and confirming that he would be in charge of the team on Thursday for the Arab Cup third-place play-off against the UAE at Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar.
Renard’s contract runs until the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. After the 1-0 defeat by Jordan in Monday’s Arab Cup semifinal at Al-Bayt Stadium, Renard was asked about the possibility he might be sacked and replied: “I have a contract and I will continue my work. I can’t do something if someone else wants to do something else. I’m staying, but if someone tells me my job is finished I’ll go somewhere else. That’s football.”
He said later that the team had “prepared superbly” for the game against Jordan, adding: “The match statistics were clear, as we had 69 percent possession compared to our opponents, who had 31 percent.
“We knew Jordan’s strategy and playing style. We weren’t successful defensively and in creating chances, so we couldn’t maintain the 0-0 draw and we couldn’t score.”
